Since its Youth Day today so no students around but I’m still in the office, Raya mood is ONz so I shall upload #GengMilah’s past Raya videos for memories sake! Its funny looking back at these videos cos we will never grow up when we’re together, remaining kental hingga ke anak cucu. I wonder when #anakgengmilah grow up and sees these videos on the internet will they be shaking their heads and say “astaghfirullahalazim mak bapak akuuuu”

It’s been a while since I got down to blogging. I cant believe that we will be turning 1 year in about a month’s time! My gosh, how time flies. Started this blog for memories sake on my preparations and now we’re turning ONE soon? And nope, no baby tumtum yet although my increase in weight makes me look like there IS a baby inside huhuhu! I gained 5kg since the wedding while my husband gained….. 10kg!! Gemok per ini anak! Also to blame is his working hours lah. Events mah, so bo pian alot of days work 12 hours and still not much time-off or no OT. Gerams but its okay, asalkan rezeki halal and I get to spend every night with him! I don’t like shift work even though his salary is definitely more with OT and all, but more money but less time also for what? Now I think it’s just nice, spend within our means.

So we went for a staycation the other day at One°15 Marina! It was super last minute, and there was a deal through Agoda ($250 only!) for a Hill View Room. No rooms available for the Marina View (so can see kapal2 all) but better than nothing! Then we got a surprise upon check-in that they upgraded us to a one-bedroom suite! How sweeeeeet! I’ve never had any upgrades and this kind of perks before so this was such a pleasant surprise!

Free welcome drink 🙂 We actually smelled it first in case it was some alcoholic drink (takkan lah kan.. but just in case)

Our Porto Fino Suite!

Greeted to this!

Checking out the TV in the toilet. Yes we did utilise it while soaking together in the tub and watching Ellen. TMI tak? Hahaha

Not much of a view unless we open up the blinds in the toilet…

After check-in we immediately went for a dip! Went back up to change into our proper slippers and decided to walk at the boardwalk, admiring the boats. Some of the boats really looked like houses (which they are, actually!)

We just kept walking and walking and realised that there were no gates into some of the huge-ass condominiums there! Like literally you can just go into the compound or even the pool. So open! It was so nice but we can only dream (or maybe work hard enough! Change job, do business on our own)

And then we reached to this so-called end point of the condominiums but it led us to another community – THE MILLION DOLLAR BUNGALOWS! /starts to hyperventilate

The end of the stretch of condos, the start of the bungalowssssss

MasyaAllah MasyaAllah was the only thing that we could say. Most of the time we were just gasping and grabbing each other’s hands tightly because WALIAOWEY DAMN BIG SIA

He smsed his brother “We forgo out BTO flat” and he panicked, asking us why?

Then he sent him this photo. Mcm siak hahahaha

It started to get dark so no more photos, thought of coming to walk the next day but it was too hot. But still managed to take this photo below. You’d think that this is in USS, The Mummy ke haper, but NOOO it’s someone’s freaking house! Must be so obsessed with this isit? The ‘guards’ eyes were really beaming red, might be CCTV inside eh? And almost all of the houses are not gated, you can just cut through but of course you wouldn’t do that lah.

Balek dah penat, no food, thought of taking the shuttle back to Harbourfront or Vivocity but we were too tired. It’s really a great place to be away from the city, so be prepared to bring all your foods and treats there! Since no choice, we ordered in-house meal! We kept flipping the pages when suddenly they had Halal Options! Although not much variety, they had my favourite thing – Laksa! And Chicken for my husband. And I SWEAR THE LAKSA portion is DAMN HUGE and SEDAP GILAAAAAAAAAA!!! So so sedap I keep thinking about it yumyum!

Checked out at 12noon the next day and missing it already. I think this will be our to-go place for staycation already. Maybe we’ll try W hotel next, but it’s more expensive than this (wait for deals then huahuahua).

Once we reached our house area, found a Muslimah haircut salon and immediately went in to dye our hairs! Hahaha random per! But of course cannot post photos lah. 😛

We finally our wedding photos. Yup! 6 months of patience-test. Hahahaha. Ok let’s do this final review before I can wrap up my whole wedding-thingajy even though dah basi lah k, dah gemok gedempol pon!

We got the Husb+Wife team for our actual day as we had booked them way in advance during our photo+video hunt. On actual day itself came another Chinese photographer who was their ‘understudy’, just to let him have a feel of what and how Malay wedding is done. Extra photographer = extra photos no? No lah, but thanks to him we had gotten some nice shots that were uploaded to his IG/FB before our official photos were out. Yani and the videographer (didn’t get his name) was at my side while Isk was at the husb’ side before nikah and we all came together during the whole event. They made us feel comfortable and at ease even though we had to pose very awkwardly (cheek to cheek/nose to nose) infront of our relatives (dah halal) but still shy shy cat whatt. Nak hold hands pon segan! Pair them up with our awesome stay-thruout-MUA Kak Nuris = pecah perot kind of day! They were not very calculative when we exceeded the hours by abit (I can be quite meticulous about such things; we were supposed to end shoot by 6 as the extra hour was from 5pm to 6pm, but we left the MPH at 505 and only started to take photos about 520 or so? We ended at 635 and that meant we had exceeded by 35 minutes, so I told her we should just pay extra hour and continue til 7pm. But they told us not to waste money and that it was not good to stay at such places till 7pm since little Azra was around. So it was really alhamdulillah for the flexibility!)

We didn’t expect to wait this long for our photos, TBH. We had asked how long was the waiting period to receive them prior to signing the contract but no definitive answers were given. Checked around and most of them receive about 3-4 months after event. Fair enough. But what I feel could have been better is them being upfront about the waiting time and response rate (I sound like Facebook). It took them a long time to reply our messages but we had that much faith in them to have our products be the best it could be that the wait will be worth it. So when we were given the choice to choose the color of our printed photobook, we were excited… LIKE FINALLY.

And on the day we collected our albums, it was with such surprise that we were given 2 albums instead of 1 because she said there were just too many photos that they could not squeeze all of it in! And when we browsed through the DVDs for the soft copy version, we took 2 hrs ++ just to browse through DAY 1. That’s also one of the reasons why I took them; they will return back ALL shots taken on the event day even though the shots are not included in the album. Good ya? The other packages that we saw will only return soft copies of the shots printed and in the album given. So there were some funny but still nice shots that was worth laughing at hehehe.

(But till as of today, we still have not collected this + our video. Its okay because it’s already uploaded online!)

And was it worth the wait?

His side is very the emotional+tears kind whereas my side is what you call ‘tough love’. Pepagi buta before we left for nikah je dah boleh bertekak hahaha until Kak Nuris asked me to CAAALM DOOWNN. Bye nak pergi kahwin

My horrendous pelamin. Sighs x100000

Kids berkat done by sister! Adult berkats! Super love the mix nuts, my families loved it until some took the whole original bag back when we had extras 😀

The girls made the boys dance to Zapin which Sri Mahligai initially just played the rhythm on the rebana but the violin (if I rem correctly) joined as well. Sigh can I ever express how much I love their songs and how professional they were? I’ve watched some other ‘newer’ bands of similar genre but mistakes~~ mistakes~~ everywhere. To someone who’d perform for shows for years, rhythms and tones are my (and husb’s) forte. So must must be perfect. Can sit together tanak tengok each other lah pulakMy cousin silat for us. Love love this shot together with our kompang Ukiran Rentak, which was ON BEAT always. Though we felt bad that they had to wait for quite a while as we were late 😦

Hantu sudah naik liao.

My last bridesmaid who rushed from her cousin’s wedding! ❤

The boys are unstoppable. K tukar baju favourite! Madah reaching for her astronaut boyfriendBoys still in the mood to dance.

Got to credit my sister @Whimsiwhisk for whipping the dessert table up! The effort that she took (had to book a hotel in Changi area to assemble the items instead of her home as she stays in Toh Guan) to bring everything to the venue.. I give AAA++. Too bad we only got to taste a little bit. The rest entah ke mana~ And If only she had more pompoms to spare I’d have asked her to make more of those big flowers so I can rip apart the fake ones on the pelamin. Now THAT is HUGE, Elly. Not your plastic ones.

Looking and thinking back, I think I should have prepared a speech eh? I’m not someone who expresses this kinds of thank yous in person esp to my family members so you wont expect me to tear up that kind of thing, but I wished I had prepared a more formal speech for my family and husband. Though the chances of my mom listening to the speech is very low (she was actually still running around the MPH and only stopped to wave when I called out to her), I still feel I should have done it. Oh well~

So yes, to me, I’m glad the end products are what we expected. Captured all the moments that we would have loved to be captured, and that was only the snippets. The second waiting (hopefully not to long) game to collect the remaining videos continues. Alhamdulillah.

While we are still waiting for our wedding photos (oh patience Raorao patience…….), here is our Mum’s Instagram and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EmmasHalalKitchen) account created for her awesome bakes. Why awesome, its because its so tasty yet she doesn’t know how to eat her own bakes / Lasagna. Hahahaaha so yang tukang bedal is me and my siblings and husband 😛

So do like our IG / FB to salivate on these tasty treats ok! We deliver as well 🙂

Next set of reviews! OUT with the negativity (for now, dalam hati masih tak puas hati because they didn’t acknowledge their mistake), IN with the positive! The things I loved about my wedding. Catering: Puteri Wedding Services Needs no further introduction already. They did for my sister’s wedding 5 years ago and I remembered it was the nicest (in terms of taste and display of food products) caterer that I didn’t need to think twice. Even my mom agreed. Of course we did inquire for Maria Le Caterer but they weren’t available 😦 Thought of having something different lah because they’re of the same standard but rezeki with PWS still. Here are some photos of the fooooood! Photos credit to PWS blogspot, takkan pengantin amek gambar kan.

I wasnt hungry during the event but nasi 3 kali tambah bila dah balek tukar baju all. Got good feedback from friends and families that the food was puas hati, alhamdulillah. Service from Kak Aishah was awesome, she went the extra mile to search fro alternatives to cover the tempat masak and khemah solat (pictured above). Initially I’d ask my deaaaaaarest deco for help and it was a straight forward request; I need a partition, maybe just a simple drape or just kain beli at Arab Street in bulk and help to pasang from the top to the bottom so as to prevent guests from unsightly khemah and all. Previous weddings held at this MPH had their cooking space and area all naked facing the pelamin and guest tables, which we did not want. I told deco that we will pay the additional costs, but the response that I got was a flat no. Yeah like no we can’t do that and we can’t help you. No initiative to go the extra mile for any alternatives. I asked them THREE times at separate occasions. One of the response given was that they had pre-ordered our drapes and materials 2 months in advance and in bulk (lmao) and they’re not able to add on to the orders. Funny, I just needed kain. I said drapes but the normal kain are also drapes what , I wasn’t asking for fanciful ones. And when she said in bulk, I measured and questioned her “Isn’t 12m by 4m bulk enough for the supplier?”. Only theeeeennn she provided us with a quotation which got up to $1000 because it was 2 weeks to the event. At the same time Kak Aishah asked her other deco contacts and they quoted $400. Win. It was so simple that we wanted to do ourselves but the thought of having those leftover kain after the event made me sick. But alhamdulillah.

Live station Soto and Roti jala (not pictured)

Jempot jempot on sticks

And many many more.

Baju nikah:- Tailored and designed by Fanurly Couture

Kain: Royal Fabrics

Got her contact from my colleague who did her baju nikah, and apparently she’s my cousin’s very close friend. Her official model is my niece lor 😉 She does a range of baju pengantin so you need not worry should you wish to engage her ok. The reason why I had to go to her was that I was worried that my normal tailor could not handle my heavily embellished lace. Best to send to the expert. Alhamdulillah I was satisfied with the outcome, thought I think we need not have bought so much lace if we’re looking at something simple. Then again, thats why we’re not designers. Beli kain tapi no design in mind, terbeli belambak pulak. But oneeeeee thing that was abit blah was that my photographers uploaded a preview of our nikah and hashtag it as Versari because my bridal is VA and they had no idea that my nikah baju was not from VA. She made a fuss about the hashtag and I found it very childish lah, not my photog’s fault. We had a long day and she doesn’t check her IG notifications until the end of our photoshoot. Not very nice lah you know. Its your creation but its just a hashtag problem. Can edit anytime one. Whatever it is, I loved my kain lol. Btw to achieve the flare and flowy kain, I had to purchase 6m of Chiffon. And it’s not that flare as well. Another dress had to use up to 20m of chiffon to achieve the princessy look. Fuh.

Thats my MUA in pink! And my grey/yellow bridesmaids.

Bridal:- Versari Ade

MUA: Yaqyn

Stylist: Nuris

Previously I’d mentioned my concerns about having Kak Yaqyn to makeup and go while her assistant takes over but the moment Kak Nuris came my room became so kecoh. Kak Yaqyn is the more serious one but low and behold, they’re both sisters. Kamcheng so lagi lah bising. Kak Nuris is also a MUA who will constantly touch up and make sure you’re looking your best, as the same time cuit cuit cakap “SMILEEEEE always SMILEEEE”! I was so happy with the makeup and only received compliments from family and friends.

Total baju from Versari was 3. To me, if you’re looking for the best traditional songket, they are the ones to go to. The songket collection is just too many you will be spoilt for choice. Initially I was worried because I was so inclined to having modern songket, the mermaid-kind of songket like how the KL artistes are wearing for their weddings and how some bridal houses here have it. But the advice I got from a KL Wedding planner was still ringing in my head. Something like having a diverse range of outfit and don’t stick to just one type of baju. Meaning that you dont have your Nikah baju, songket and gown all in the same mermaid style. So for mine, baju nikah is baju kurung with a trail, sanding is songket and gown is of a different style.

After a few tries during selection of outfits (yes 2 hours is more than enough!), we ended up choosing this! But do not that during selection there will not be any trying of sanggul all. Again I was worried because I dont know if I want to wear it or not, alot of people were telling me that it’s gonna make you pening and berat but Kak Ida assured that theirs was light and tak memeningkan. Trust that it was ok, so I went to their Facebook to see the types of sanggul lintang available. I only liked a few designs so based on Kak Yaqyn’s advise, during the final fitting I selected the type of sanggul as well 🙂 Love the fact that they constantly give you ideas on what flowers to match etc, but thats obviously because they ARE the professional ones. No worries at all lah.

By sanding time Kak Nuris had taken over Kak Yaqyn’s role of touching up and dressing me up. So gerek ah this one.

Loved this photo of us

Honestly speaking, I was disappointed with their gowns. Ok, maybe it’s just me. I was looking at a more simple and modern dress, and not gown. I hate ballroom dresses, but thankfully I managed to get something simple and fits my taste. In the first place I was only loving all the chiffons but its okay, I loved this one together with the makeup! And I think my husband looks handsome lah 😛

Sample and proof that I was really a taktaududukdiamposececantik kind of pengantin. Expresi buruk.

Second day over at his side was a more chillax reception. Made me wish mine was as relax but I just didn’t know how to plan for it! His was over at Charisma D’venue and its fully aircon so apa lagi sedap lah! Since it was a chillax reception we didn’t bother to have 2 outfits. It was so peaceful that I could finish eating and wanted more hahaha tamak! But the food was really really gooooood!

Second day makeup and outfit. Kak Yaqyn’s work of art ^.^

Family who followed for the bertandang 😀

Loved his suit again 😉

Bridesmaids:- GengMilah (10) + Upin Ipin Fam (2)

Groomsmen:- GengMilo (6) consisting of husbands + Boyfriends

Ok this one not vendor lah but I love how their whole outfit turned out 🙂 I spent alot of time trying to find the color that complements my outfit and the yellow that will suit the grey lace and kain k! Pening kepala but the result is love

As for the groomsmen we got them off the shelves lah. Lelaki nak tailor ni dorg leceh sikit. The only thing tailored was their samping.

MISSING ONE BRIDESMAID AISHAHHHHHHRRRR!!

Outdoor photoshoot after Day 1.

Their positions are not according to their respective partners hehehe

For Day 2 over at his side we cut down on the number of bridesmaids and groomsmen. Reason is because I only wanted to trouble my Upin Ipin family ahahaha no lah, because I cannot pick which GM to be with me, and I thought its more meaningful for Upin Ipin (Shah and Aishah) because I’ve been close to them since poly days, and when husband came into the picture during Bloco time, it just suddenly became like a family. Very grateful to have them around because they were really helpful and buat kita entertained as well hahaha

My in-laws.

Here’s an interesting fact. His sister-in-law (lady next to me) is, following the family hierarchy over my paternal side, is my niece. Technically, her children are my grand-nephews/nieces, even if I did not end up marrying my husband. But since we’re now married, they automatically become my niece and nephews as well. Complicated eh? I thought the family should be expanding but then not as expanded >.<

Ok I’m done with my part 1 review (plus a few rantings). Up next… let’s see when I’m free bruahaha but I must do it for memories sake.

Let’s start with the things that did not go so well first so we can get over it and rave on to the things that I totally looove during my wedding. Of all things, the major disappointment had to come from my deco. If you see my past posts you will know who I am talking about. Thinking about it makes my heart ache and geram but it’s over, so suck it. At times I kept thinking, is it my fault for trusting them fully? Should I have continuously checked and double confirmed my designs and what I wanted? Should I have been more particular and specific? Do all decos work this way? Throughout my liaising with Li/sa I have, alot of times, felt she gives this certain attitude that I get ticked off, BUT because I am a nice person and because I always try to “Husnuzon”, berprasangka baik dengan seseorang. So I brushed it off. She hasnt been overly friendly and creative, it was more of me feeding my ideas then thats it. So what was the idea I had in mind?

LARGE PAPER FLOWERS was the main focus.

Instead, what did I get?

Number 1: Fake tiny flowers which, I have emphasized to her so many times during our discussions that I HATE them.

Number 2: The color combinations that are TOTALLY off. Red flowers to compliment the PINK hydrangeas?! And when I told her I had asked for large paper flowers and not these small flowers, she said “Oh because it wouldn’t suit the garden theme.” Wtf? Hours away from solemnization and you’re saying this kind of shit? And then when asked WHY red, she said its to make the flowers stand out.

So how did I initially voiced out my ideas to them?

I told them that I wanted large paper flowers that they did during Fadhlurrahman’s photobooth backdrop to be incorporated into the drapes. But I wasn’t sure if the flowers are going to be too heavy to be pasted / cling onto the drapes, so even though I hated the square-ish palang at the back, I was ok if they can hide it with the large paper flowers.

They did it before what. Funnily during our very first meeting when I brought this “large paper flowers” up, she seemed to be a little lost to what I was saying. I could see she was just nodding having this “apa ni” face, which I then assumed that this was done by Iz/yan instead. You know, Elly belongs to these 2 sisters. So maybe different projects were handled by different people, but I assumed they should have atleast have some discussions about their works.

Anyway heck, why was I the one worried that the flowers wouldn’t stick? They should’ve come up with something to make them stick, right? So she said, okay but will need to check if there’ s customization charges because there’s additional structures to be included. Finally, she said it will be free of charge since its their first time doing such a piece. What a load of crap in one email you know why?

I was promised my theme color to have shades of pink. Do you know where’s the ONLY pink in the deco? The hydrangeas. There was so much green and emerald even though I had mentioned in email that I just wanted a “tinge of emerald”. You know what else was emerald? My ceiling drapes deco and my meja pengantin. Even though I may not be as ‘creative’, I have better sense of color combination then they did. And when I said mainly mint I didn’t know I’d be slapped with a whole lot of it.

Also, did you see ANY RED in my emails? So what’s with the fake RED FLOWERS that they gave me to make it the center of attraction on pelamin and to stand out from the rest of the flowers? I got an attitude from Li/sa when I approached her saying that I wanted either the red flowers to be removed TOTALLY or replaced them with PINK flowers. That’s the only thing that can be salvaged, right? Atleast it wouldn’t have looked so off. Member perangai and said “ok we’ll see what we can do and if we have enough flowers to cover” and left. /slow clap. It was only when one of their assistants who came back and ‘found’ some pink flowers to be added on the structure did it look slightly better (doesn’t mean I still like it). He was nice enough to ask what else was I not happy about, which, I told him straight to the face I didn’t like anything at all. And what was Li/sa doing? She was just trailing behind that boy, with her head held high and looking to just leave the venue asap because ‘we’ve done our job already’.

Anyway, see their previous work? Oh wow, the exact same setup! Eh but I thought…

Specifically ordered lah sangat. Plus, the table cloths weren’t mint. They were green, as seen in the photos. How mismatched can the table cloths and the drapes on the pelamin be?You should see them in real life. And take a look at the sketch of the pelamin that was given to me.

Was mentioned that it was ‘not drawn to scale’. Again, I ask myself, is it my fault for assuming those to be large flowers? Not drawn to scale means can be very small or very big. But if you look at the middle flower above the chandelier, it looks like a big piece of flower, like a centerpiece. So yes I assumed they remembered. Not an exact replica? Ok, but I didn’t know it came without the chandelier, the rest of the 2 drapes and flower vases. Instead, it came with these candle holder which was missing 1 candle at 1 side. Talk about inconsistency.

Let’s backtrack to our previous email conversations, how I always tried to emphasize large paper flowers.

Up to the last meeting before setup I remembered her saying large paper flowers. My mistake was not asking her how the paper flowers will look like. Again, it was because I assumed that she had done it before so she as the deco person should know better, right? She should be the one showing me what kinds of paper flowers I would like. Again, my mistake for not following up because assumptions and one word – TRUST.

The pelamin deco was only 1/3 of the crappy service given.

Like what my mom always says, kalau nak buat kerja biarlah sempurna. Just because they’re not as high end as Jen/tayu all doesnt mean they shouldn’t be delivering their works properly. Heck, I think my cousins’ deco who are not as expensive and high end had better end results. Just take a look at the length table cloths….. had an uncle who tripped over it and a few others who almost tripped over. Apa ni, kalau jatuh insurance nak claim dari siapa? Deco ke?

Compare this to our caterer’s table cloth and there was such a vast difference. Take a look at other deco-s too.

Ends right above your ankle, more comfortable and presentable, right? I dont think I’m being petty about this.

What they gave me was plain sloppy and messy.

Talking about sloppy and messy……………………… this I didn’t manage to take a photo because at the end of the day (1am pengantin masih kat venue k) I was too pissed and disappointed with all the things that I had found left behind.

So they left 4 LARGE PIZZA BOXES at the venue, specifically, less than 2 metres away from my meja pengantin. I thought that they will be taking it with them while they were hanging out around the area but once they left, pizza boxes were left there until the ants starting to call their army. No photos because my brother was so mad and again, aku dah tak kuasa. Not only that, my aunt/uncle from KL together with my mom, brother, sister and cousin and some of my bridesmaids stayed till 1am++ to sweep the floor because they left so many rubbish and plastic bags around, sampai bawah meja makan tetamu also had plastics of rubbish. What kind of work ethics is this? And if I could show you how they arranged my table centerpiece (a carpet grass + vase of flowers), I think even the most non-OCD person will scream. Literally main campak and didn’t even bother to keep it to the center of the table.

Geram tak geram tak? Kalau tu tak cukup menggeramkan, they totally forgo and forgot about the space needed for Sri Mahligai. Every single time I asked them where is the space for the band, they kept saying “oh we’re not done yet”. Not done sampai besok paginya my sister and cousin came down and pushed the tables away to make space for them.

Noted in email but not in the head.

Honestly I was so disappointed with them and their I’ve-done-my-job attitude. What was their compensation to this whole disaster? A $300 discount which I totally ignored and gave myself more discount which I still think does not match to what they have provided. If those $2k deco can provide better service I dont understand why they can’t. And now from their website they’re quoting almost $5k for a MPH wedding deco? With that price, I’d rather recommend Jentayu or Comel Molek or Daundco. I should’ve made an appointment with Comel Molek but they were so difficult to meet that with the price Elly quoted me previously I just jumped ship on them.

I’m not trying to say that do not trust new vendors. I took Elly when they were only about 7 months. But now that they’ve turned 2 or something like that, shouldn’t they be improving and be more professional about their works? I have unfollowed them on Instagram because if they dared to upload my deco and be proud of it, I will definitely blast more or not even pay up the balance amount. Now that I havent been seeing them uploading any recent works makes me wonder if they have been cocking up other customers’ as well.

My advise if you have taken Elly for your deco is to be petty about every single detail. You are the paying customer, if you must know the exact shade of mint for the table cloth then ask for it. My fault for not asking for it because of trust. Sorry lah, husband aku daripada a fan of Iz/yan dah un-fan balek dah. He knew how disappointed and sad I was on that day. It was a blessing in disguise to have my nikah at Masjid Taqua instead, atleast I had some nice backdrops there which soooo complement our bajus!

So, enough of the negativity, my next posts will all be the good stuffs 😉